Onrust Splash Plus One

..plus one year, that is, not quite.  A year ago, work to ready the vessel for a mid-May splash reached frenzied levels, but the Adriaen aka Aerjan Block replica made an early June appointment to be part of River Day.  Here Onrust follows Half Moon in the direction of Tappan Zee Bridge, distant background.

Here she dangled, late May 2009, minutes before splash, and

here she shivers, nine months later, February 2010, in an Albany shipyard awaiting warmer weather.

Here was two days post-splash, just above Lock 9, and

… February 2010, Albany shipyard.

Here, in suspension  . . . merest seconds before the first ever splash, and

… February 2010, Albany.

And some 70 miles south of Albany . . . Half Moon waits in a protected area for all the ice to clear out.   I wonder if the ghost of Henry migrates south to this bend in the river to find solace in the dark months . . .

and if so . . . what are his dreams, his obsessions . . .   And if that’s true, whose ghost inhabits the replica of Onrust?

Plans for Onrust for this coming season include completing the interior and doing other finishings that’ll allow further voyages, maybe in time . . . retracing the travels of Captain Block.  After four voyages to North America, Block never returned;  he continued to sail but into the cold regions north of Scandanavia once explored by Hudson.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.